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Archdemon (strategy)
This page contains detailed tips on how to fight the Archdemon. The Archdemon has the following passive abilities: +75% cold, electricity and spirit resistance. The Archdemon has some powerful attacks, including Massive Attacks from the side, Cleave from the front, and Sweep from the back. Choosing the Dalish elves (who use ranged attacks) as the support army can be useful, because melee will suffer much more damage from his cleaves, and the AOE spells from the mages can interrupt your melee attacks as well. For heavy magic users, note that the corrupted dragon has enormous resistance against just about everything, so your mage should have a Magic attribute over 45 to use spells such as Petrify. If you have Wynne or another healer, have them save their mana to restore your party's health and attack the Darkspawn hordes that will arrive later in the battle. It should be noted that the Archdemon deals Spirit damage, so stock up on those resistances where possible. Although Tier 6, the Juggernaut Armor Set is an excellent resistance set, giving +20% to Fire, Nature, Cold, Electricity and Spirit, and +10% Mental Resistance and therefore a better choice than the Tier 7 Legion of the Dead Armor Set. If, during your fight through Denerim, you loot a Hurlock General for Corruption, a helmet that has a massive +75% Spirit Resistance, equip it to your tank. You'll lose the +1 armor, +10% mental resistance from the Juggernaut Helm, and the set bonus of +3 strength and +3 constitution from the Juggernaut set, but its worth it. note the elemental resistances are capped at 75%, so if you equip [[Corruption], there is no reason to keep wearing your helmless Juggernaut Armor Set that has lost its set bonus: there are much better options.] Phase One The Archdemon flies from place to place on the main platform. It is easily attackable but will use various knockbacks, wing buffets, grabs and other attacks. If Shale is in the party, turn on Crushing Blows and, by default, she will Slam as often as she can. Mages who have the AoE spells like Inferno and Tempest should use it as much as possible on the Archdemon (Friendly fire will be off on Easy Difficulty). If your party is having trouble defeating the Archdemon, call an Army to distract the dragon while retreating to the Ballistae on the towers. These siege weapons auto-target the Archdemon and, if it is within range, fire bolts that do between 40 and 120 damage. When hit with a Ballista bolt, the Archdemon will roar in pain, interrupting its attacks and giving the Ballista enough time to reload. Though significantly less exciting, this is an efficient way to chip it's health away without actually fighting it. On any difficulty above Casual, though, the Ballistas will jam and require a Rogue to fix them, the Archdemon may jump onto a tower, and the Ballistae may jam indefinitely. Phase Two Alphas, Shrieks, and Grunts (the Alphas and Shrieks have normal HP while the Grunts are still one hit kills) join the fight. During this phase, Arl Eamon, Kardol, Swiftrunner or Zathrian, and Knight-Commander Greagoir or First Enchanter Irving will appear and help fight the odds - if you can spare some healing spells, use it on them, as they are all valuable allies. The Archdemon is still in range of Bows, Staves, and the Ballistae. The Archdemon will simply sit and shoot Spirit attacks at its enemies during Phase Two, so feel free to throw AoE spells at it or spam the two Ballistae it is in range of. If you choose to camp near the Ballistae, be sure to have a strong Army to keep both the Archdemon and its Horde busy, as either may attack you here. If you have the Dalish or the Mages on the field, make sure to engage the Horde yourself, as these units are better left to shooting across the fissure at the Archdemon; similarly, if you have Dwarves, Soldiers, Golems, Werewolves, or Templars active, they can attack the Darkspawn (either with you or for you). To avoid your army's number dropping too fast, your mage should use Blood Wound--almost all of the battle will take place in a small pocket, directly in front of the Archdemon, as it is a common spawning place for both sides. You may also want to crowd your offensive forces on a spawn door to stop Alphas from getting too far into the fray (Shrieks usually run out too fast and Grunts aren't always worth attacking, while Alphas usually activate a buff once they arrive--use that time to engage them). Phase Three This phase begins when the Archdemon hits approximately 15-20% HP.. The Archdemon flies to the upper part of the main platform, while Darkspawn continue to spawn from the doors at an increased rate. The Archdemon will continue to attack anything in range, while many of the Darkspawn will switch to Ranged weapons. There are two balistae in range of the Archdemon: one that was used in Phase Two and one on the opposite side of the Archdemon from the other. Use them until they jam as they can do up to 115 damage per shot. Tanks, Dwarves, Templars, Soldiers, Golems, and Werewolves can distract any enemies while you use the Ballistae, as usual, and the Elves and Mages can support you as you attack it yourself. Keep an eye on the party in case their tactics allow changing target - the tanks should concentrate all their efforts on the Archdemon. Rogues should engage other darkspawn to keep them off the tanks whenever they aren't needed to unjam balistae. It should not take too long to drop the Archdemon if you get this far, but stage three is the hardest to keep track of since you may be firing and repairing balistae, healing and making sure your tanks don't forget what they're supposed to be tanking. NOTE: Phase 3 can actually be avoided if the Archdemon is killed quick enough - it has nothing to do with its health, but rather how fast you can deal damage. * As a final note, it is perhaps worth it to have a melee combatant make the killing blow, as the Archdemon has an unique death animation should you kill it this way. * Another tactic is to have Wynne and/or Shale in your party and spread out yourself and your 3 other companions on the ballistae, but remember to keep them on hold, e.g. Alistair on one, Shale and Wynne on the other two. Have a buff person (yourself or Shale) on the one closest to the archdemon, because alphas and shrieks will spawn. The battle will be over in no time. And remember to call out for help on phase 2. (PS3 and Xbox360 users, go to the advanced section in the radial wheel and press hold.) ---- Possible Bug: After battling with the Archdemon for awhile, he will summon several Darkspawn minions to attack you. After defeating them, the Archdemon stays in place for a bit and you can use one of the ballistas to constantly fire on the Archdemon, which would not move thus making the battle much easier. (Proven far left ballistas once you defeat the melee spawn near you, make sure its your tank since you should have 1 archer remaining. Category:Strategies